1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a lighter, and more particularly to a disposable lighter, which comprises a gas casing and an outer shelter slidably mounted on a side of the gas casing wherein the outer shelter functions as an ignition actuator and arranged in such a manner that the outer shelter is slid in an axially movable manner with respect to the gas casing to ignite the disposable lighter.
2. Description of Related Arts
A conventional piezoelectric lighter generally comprises a lighter case receiving a fuel storage chamber and having an ignition cavity, an ignition system comprises a gas emitting nozzle communicated with the fuel storage chamber, a piezoelectric unit disposed in the ignition cavity and arranged for producing a spark toward the gas emitting nozzle, and an ignition button slidably mounted on top of the lighter case and communicated with the gas emitting nozzle via a gas lever.
Hence, when the ignition button is depressed downwardly, the gas lever is arranged to lift up the gas emitting nozzle for releasing gas fuel and, at the same time, a movable operating part of the piezoelectric unit is depressed downwardly to produce the spark at the ignition tip of the gas emitting nozzle such that the gas fuel ejecting from the gas emitting nozzle is then ignited by the spark.
According to the construction of the conventional piezoelectric lighter, the ignition button is provided on a top side of the lighter case adjacent to the ignition tip of the gas emitting nozzle such that a user must use his or her thumb to depress the ignition button downwardly to ignite the piezoelectric lighter. One of the reasons for such structure is that the user is able to conveniently ignite the piezoelectric lighter.
However, such convenient structure also creates some repercussions. The conventional piezoelectric lighter may cause undesirable ignitions, especially by children.
As a matter of facts, the appearances and the operation procedures of most conventional piezoelectric lighters are similar. Driven by curiosity, a child may easily recognize that there is a lighter in a certain place and he or she can easily reach and ignite it for fun. Although safety locks are incorporated with such piezoelectric lighters to lock up the downward movement of the ignition button, most of the safety locks are simple enough that the children can easily figure out the way to unlock the ignition button.
Moreover, since the ignition button is positioned adjacent to the ignition tip of the gas emitting nozzle, the flame produced at the ignition tip of the gas emitting nozzle may bum the user""s thumb, especially when the flame is adjusted to have a larger flame size. For example, when the user ignites the piezoelectric lighter to light up a cigar that takes a relative longer time, the flame will heat up the surrounding area of the ignition tip of the gas emitting nozzle. Therefore, the flame may burn a portion of the ignition button closed to the ignition tip or even hurt the user""s thumb.
In addition, the size of the lighter case must be large enough to store the gas therein and receive the piezoelectric unit. In order to provide a compact size of the piezoelectric lighter, the size of the fuel storage chamber in the lighter case must be minimized to create the ignition cavity for the piezoelectric unit disposed therein. Therefore, most of the piezoelectric lighter must be disposed when the gas fuel is used up rather than the piezoelectric unit is terminated.
Besides, since the ignition button is conventionally constructed on the top side of the lighter case, the ignition button will limit the appearance of the piezoelectric lighter. Such press down type of the piezoelectric lighter also prevents the industry designer to create any ornament design without the ignition button equipped thereon.
A main object of the present invention is to provide a disposable lighter which comprises a gas casing and an outer shelter slidably mounted on a side of the gas casing wherein the outer shelter functions as an ignition actuator and arranged in such a manner that the outer shelter is slid in an axially movable manner with respect to the gas casing to ignite the disposable lighter.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable lighter, wherein no ignition button is mounted on the gas casing so that the children may not find out how to operate the disposable lighter so as to prevent the disposable lighter from being ignited by the children.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable lighter, wherein the piezoelectric unit is mounted between the gas casing and the outer shelter such that the size of the gas chamber in the gas casing can be maximized to prolong the service life of the present invention.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable lighter, wherein an adult must use his or her fingers to apply the axial sliding force on the outer shelter, such that the adult""s fingers are positioned below the ignition tip of the gas emitting nozzle so as to prevent the adult""s fingers getting burnt by the flame. In other words, the adult""s fingers are positioned far away from the flame for safety purpose.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable lighter, wherein the disposable lighter can be designed and crafted to a variety of shapes and models without affecting the ignition operation of the disposable lighter, so as to enhance the aesthetic appearance of the disposable lighter of the present invention.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable lighter, wherein the ignition operation of the disposable lighter merely requires a simple single-action operation by the adult instead of the conventional double-action operation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable lighter, which comprises a compression resistance element provided between the outer shelter and the gas casing for providing an additional sliding resistance force against the outer shelter such that the compression resistance element forms as a physical barrier for preventing the disposable lighter of the prevent invention from being ignited accidentally or by children.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable lighter, wherein no expensive or complicated mechanism is required to employ in the disposable lighter, so as to minimize the manufacturing and marketing cost of the disposable lighter of the present invention.
Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a disposable lighter, comprising:
a gas casing receiving a fuel storage;
a gas emitting nozzle having an ignition tip appearing at a ceiling of the gas casing and communicating with the fuel storage for controlling a flow of gas;
a piezoelectric unit comprising a main piezoelectric body, a movable operating part slidably extended therefrom, and a spark generating tip extended to a position close to the ignition tip of the gas emitting nozzle, wherein when the movable operating part is depressed with respect to the main piezoelectric body, the spark generating tip generates sparks to ignite the gas emitted from the ignition tip of the gas emitting nozzle;
an outer shelter slidably mounted on a sidewall of the gas casing and defining a receiving cavity between the outer shelter and the gas casing wherein the piezoelectric unit is received in the receiving cavity; and
an actuating arm extended from an inner side of the outer shelter to a top end of the piezoelectric unit in such a manner that when the outer shelter is axially slid with respect to the gas casing, the actuating arm is driven to compress the piezoelectric unit so as to ignite the disposable lighter.